Conference The conference will last two days during which four invited lectures will be delivered. In each day two invited lectures will be delivered and three 90 minute sessions will take place. Poster sessions may also be organized. Official language of the LWAG 2009 Conference is English.

Location The LWAG 2009 conference will be held at the University of Aveiro, Portugal. Aveiro is located on the shore of the Atlantic Ocean and is known for its traditional “egg sweets”. It is sometimes called “The Portuguese Venice” because of its canals and boats, as the city faced similar problems when it tried to conquer the water. The city dates back at least to the 10th century when it was known by its first Latin name of Aviarium, literally, “a gathering place or preserve of birds”. The Moors invaded and then held it until the 11th century, after which it became popular with Portuguese royalty. In the winter of 1575 a terrible storm closed the entrance to its port, ending a thriving trade in metals and tiles. Aveiro is also famous for its production of salt and for its seaweed harvest, which is used for fertiliser in the area.

Objectives and topics The purpose of the conference is to present new developments in the context of security and armour systems. The provisional list of topics is as follows:

- Armour systems

- Armour materials

- Defence systems

- Impact energy dissipation and absorption

- Blast-wave absorption

- Ballistic and impact phenomena

- Innovative technologies against terrorism

- Impact and terminal ballistics

- Body and vehicle protection

- Counter-terrorism

- Safety engineering

- Applications and case studies

- Numerical simulation

- Modelling and theoretical studies

- Experimental methods

- Testing and standardization

It is also a major purpose of the conference to facilitate the communication between specialists interested in fields related to security and armour systems.